December 11, 2024
Greetings Liberty Lovers,
I caution you not to blink… oops, you missed it. That is how the Precinct Committeemen felt that night. The meeting lasted a whopping 15 minutes from start to finish.
PUTTING US IN OUR PLACE. When we arrived, the chairs were reserved for us to sit in precinct order. We are no longer able to choose where we sit, or who we sit by. It’s like we are back in first grade, not grown adults. My guess is to keep us segregated.
EVERYTHING BY THE BOOK; OR IS IT? They changed the AGENDA headings this month, so they mirror what the bylaws show; but there were no actual talking points listed. So how does our crackerjack Chair, Tom Wangeman, hold a meeting, even a fifteen minute one, with nothing to talk about? Easy, he made “announcements” about matters that should have been discussed under OLD and NEW BUSINESS. I’m thinking that by doing this, he was trying to avoid discussions and allowing anyone to speak.
FINDING A REPLACEMENT TAKES TIME. The Chair started off by stating that he received Taylor Clelland’s resignation letter that day. He informed us that we will be electing a new PC for TF #4 at our meeting in January. What he did not tell us was that he knew of the vacancy at the November 18th meeting (Taylor’s name was crossed off the attendance sheet) and the replacement process should have taken place at this meeting. I can only speculate, but I believe that they had not located a candidate yet.
WHY CALL A SPECIAL MEETING? Tom proceeded to tell us that, even though we did not have a quorum for the special meeting on November 18th, he sent the two resolutions from our regular November
meeting up to the IDGOP anyway. For those who read my article last month, you know our Chair called a special meeting, upon the advice of Grant Loebs, because of the messy way the votes were taken, and
it did not look good for Twin Falls County. If they planned to send the resolutions anyway, why did they waste our time with a special meeting?
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE INCOMPETENCE OF OUR CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR. The Chair made a final announcement that we need to start getting donations for our Lincoln Day’s silent auction. After that, he attempted to adjourn the meeting. I’m sure he was happy that he had shut me up, but I had the audacity to throw in one inquiry before we adjourned. “When is our Lincoln Day event?” I mean, we
were asked to solicit donations for an event that has not been brought up. We were not given any details like when and where it is being held, who is planning it, etc. These are details that should have been discussed in NEW BUSINESS and a subcommittee should have been formed.
MEETING BEFORE THE MEETING Some of you know about the Executive Board meetings that take place before the Central Committee meeting each month and at other “secret times” to which we are not privy. For those that do not know, the meeting before the meeting is when the “powers that be” discuss and plan everything; they take care of all Central Committee business, instead of letting us be involved. Only items that require a vote, for example approving the minutes and financials, are brought to us. This is why they do not care if half of the PCs show up, there is nothing of substance being discussed at most of our meetings.
The Executive meeting is where all the plans for Twin Falls County’s
Lincoln Day event have been made. Everything, from the location and date, the speaker, the auctions and raffles, prices of tickets and tables, even down to the table decorations have been planned by them. Essentially, our Chairman neglected to let us know we’re having of the biggest Republican fundraisers that we host all year. I suspect that if he had not asked for donations, we would still not know we were having a Lincoln Day dinner.
SO, WHO HOLDS THE POWER, YOU ASK? Tom Wangeman, Julie Koyle, Ruth Pierce, Grant Loebs, Gretchen Clelland, Dan Lewin, and Cherie Vollmer are unelected representatives of our county that sit on the exclusive Executive Board. They are joined by elected PCs Don Hall, John Brubaker, Chance Requa, Marla Sisson, Kiel Willmore, and Chris Reid. These are the individuals who make all the decisions for our Central Committee. They decide what happens and what does not happen in our meetings, even down to where we are allowed to sit. The presidents of the Magic Valley Republican Women, Sol Culbertson, and Southern Idaho Republican Women, Alex Caval, are also members.
CALL TO ACTION
Attend our next meeting, Wednesday January 8, 2025. Planning & Zoning Room in TF County West Bleg., 630 Addison Ave. W, Twin Falls. The more the community gets involved, the harder it is for the “powers that be” to hid what they are really doing.
Be sure to go to twinfallsrepublicans.com to view the agendas, minutes and most importantly, the attendance of Twin Falls County elected PCs.
If you have any topics that are affecting our community that you would like to see discussed at a future TFCRCC meeting, please reach out to MVLA and they will pass along the information to your Liberty Loving Precinct Committeemen.
